Save Hobby Dollars – Get a Gaming Table on the Cheap!

Come see some great ways to score a gaming table for your home game room, on the CHEAP, in today’s save hobby dollar special feature!

So you made some friends and they all want to hang out drink beer and roll a bunch of dice in order to murder each other. That’s awesome!

Some of your best games can be had in a basement or kitchen using salt shakers as trees and loafs of bread as houses. However it is even better if you take it to the next level and start making your own scenery. The first thing you need to start with though is a gaming table and let’s try and keep it cheap since you know those new models are not free.

First things first you need to make sure the table is at least 4 foot by 6 foot, this is standard table size for most wargames. Anything smaller can be fun but limits usefulness of certain troops and just becomes a mosh pit. If you find one larger that is fine you can always set boundaries using string or what not, and sometimes you may want a larger battle. This can be especially true for battles involving more than 2 people. Anyways there are some cheap options out there and it really depends how crafty you want to be.

The first option and my personal favorite is the ping pong table. These bad boys are 9ft by 5ft so are a perfect table for in home gaming. Also you can sneak it by the significant other by saying you are buying it to play ping pong (or beer pong) when you throw parties. New these are a little pricey but if you go to our friend Craig’s list you can find used ones for under 50 bucks.

Hint look near a college town, students are always unloading these things when they leave college, just be ready to give it a good cleaning to remove all the dried beer. Also check the size there are a lot of smaller ping pong tables out there and we don’t want one of those.

A second option is walking into your nearest home improvement store and becoming a carpenter. Most stores will cut wood for you so have them do that and get the following: A 4ft by 6ft piece of ply wood, 2 1 inch by 12 inch by 72 inch length wood, 2 pieces of 1 inch by 12 inch by 46 inch length wood, wood screws (a bunch get a box of 50), sanding paper (medium grit), and if you don’t have it a drill.

You will then put a long piece of wood (72 inch) and one short piece (46 inch) together to form a L shape with longer board on outside. Drive at least 3 screws (top, middle, and bottom) into the long board so that it joins with the short. Then take the next long board (72 inch) and put it on the other side of the short board and you end up with a U shape. With the long board on the outside screw 3 more screws into the long board to join it to the L shape. Finally take the last short board (46 inch) and put it in the remaining gap to form a rectangle. Drive 3 screws on each side of the short board to join them all up, if there are any gaps tighten the screws.

Next place the 4 foot by 6 foot piece of ply wood on top of the frame and screw it in using 3 screws per side at even intervals. Finally sand down the edges and joints and there you go, one 4 foot by 6 foot table. Note if you want to add legs to it get some 2 by 4 s at whatever height you want and screw them into the frame.

If carpentry and ping pong are not your style you can always buy a table (don’t go for a folding table those are almost always 6 foot by 2-3 foot so will not work).

Garage sales are nice and cheap, or if you won the lottery there are really nice customized gaming tables for sale online. Though be careful if you are using the kitchen table the dice can gouge the wood and it makes your better half angry…. Trust me on this one.

About Travis Perkins

An avid homebrewer and Detroit sports fan (yes even the Lions). I am new to the world of wargamming and very much enjoying the journey. If you have any suggestions or comments feel free to comment on the article or email me at perki116@msu.edu

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Spikey Bits is site about the hobby of tabletop wargaming. It is our mission to bring you the latest from the miniature wargaming scene, from narrative missions, hobby how to tutorials, battle reports, unboxings and reviews, retro flashbacks, news, rumors and more. We mainly cover Warhammer 40k, Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, Warmachine, Hordes, X-Wing, Infinity, Horus Heresy, and Star Wars Armada. We'll show you all the aspects of the hobby from converting and painting models to actually playing the game.